How adaptive microlearning can revolutionize your company training

Adaptive learning and microlearning are two popular concepts, but they don’t often get discussed together. When combined, these concepts can promote more effective company training in less time. Let’s break it down: 

Adaptive learning refers to learning that is personalized based on the needs of the user. The content is optimized based on the learner’s responsibilities, strengths, difficulties, knowledge gaps and previous lessons. 

Microlearning refers to learning that is delivered in short, information-packed intervals. Microlearning lessons are typically under 10 minutes in length; sometimes they’re delivered in as little as 3 minutes. The key is to deliver these lessons daily so that the learning is continuous and reinforced. 

With these concepts in mind, adaptive microlearning is simply a personalized learning experience that’s delivered in small increments over time. There are several reasons why adaptive microlearning is so uniquely effective for company training. 

Greater learning potential

Adaptive microlearning aligns with how people actually learn. The microlearning process helps you design solutions to match proven learning science principles, while adaptive tech fits these solutions into the workflow in an automatically spaced, reinforced way that supports knowledge retention. So whether you’re looking to target specific business challenges or just build a more confident and knowledgeable workforce, you’re doing more to ensure that the information will stick. 

Accelerated critical skill development

Microlearning helps you focus on the specific topics that matter most as opposed to big, overloaded courses. Adaptive learning focuses on the individual needs of an employee. More attention is given to the concepts that need additional reinforcement, so busy employees get up to speed more quickly even though the lessons themselves are short—there’s no filler. Combined, that means people are focusing on just the concepts they need and developing the required skills more quickly without taking time away from the job. The whole process can be incorporated into the flow of work using a frontline LMS like Axonify. 

Better data

Microlearning strategies focus on specific topics, so you’re measuring competency in specific areas as opposed to a larger concept. Adaptive learning allows you to reinforce areas where gaps may exist and gain a sense of where people are right now—not just where they were after initial training. With this blend of data, adaptive microlearning allows you to measure knowledge growth over time with much greater precision than traditional eLearning. As an adaptive microlearning tool for the frontline, Axonify uses all of this data to compile knowledge growth metrics. You can see, at a glance, how much each employee has improved their knowledge—and also their behavior—over time via easy-to-follow learning analytics. 

Better responsiveness to organizational needs

Adaptive microlearning takes less time to build and manage. On the microlearning side, it’s just faster to build small, targeted solutions as opposed to larger courses. And adaptive tech allows you to push the solutions to the right people instead of using up everyone’s time on training they don’t need. You don’t have to manually optimize the training for each team member in real time. The adaptive algorithm takes care of that for you. 

The opportunity for upskilling

Agility is key in today’s workforce. With an adaptive solution that works in just a few minutes a day, employees can incorporate up-skilling and cross-skilling into their learning routine without taking any time away from their core responsibilities. It’s easier to fit smaller, digestible learning activities into a busy workflow, and these activities can be adapted to emphasize just the information an employee needs to take on their next role or create new opportunities. 

Adaptive microlearning: Two concepts, one result

Adaptive microlearning is more impactful, less labor-intensive and better equipped to fill employee knowledge gaps and improve business outcomes. It’s also more engaging for learners. 

The microlearning aspect takes less time and energy and is more focused, so learners are less likely to tune out. The adaptive experience takes the engagement even further by ensuring that the employee is exposed to the information they need most. They’re not bombarded with irrelevant or redundant information. 

The concept of adaptive microlearning is simple: Keep it short and keep it relevant.